Video Game Loot Boxes Under Scrutiny By 16 Gambling Regulators (cnet.com)

An anonymous reader writes: Gambling regulators from 16 agencies signed an agreement Monday in an effort to tackle the "blurring of lines between gaming and gambling." The international coalition, made up of European agencies and the Washington State Gambling Commission, said it's calling on the video game industry and tech platforms to help crack down on unlicensed third-party sites offering illegal gambling in video games. The coalition also said game providers have to make sure that features like loot boxes, which let players pay real money to purchase in-game items to artificially advance their power levels, aren't considered gambling under national laws. This kind of pushback could impact the decisions of video game makers. UK-based Gambling Commission said in a statement: "We are increasingly concerned with the risks being posed by the blurring of lines between gambling and other forms of digital entertainment such as video gaming. Concerns in this area have manifested themselves in controversies relating to skin betting, loot boxes, social casino gaming and the use of gambling themed content within video games available to children."

Comments

Remember when

[stealth_finger]

Remember when you used to buy games and just unlock stuff as you go? Ah, simpler times.

Re:Remember when

[bickerdyke]

Remember when you used to buy a game and could simply PLAY it?

Re:Remember when

[Anonymous Coward]

This is solved by not buying games from shitty companies.

Re:Remember when

[ArchieBunker]

Gamers are a bunch of whores who like getting treated badly. Every time EA releases a game people bitch and moan how terrible the company is, how terrible the game was, and how they will NEVER buy another EA game again. Well six months later some new bullshit game is announced and all those people can't get to the credit cards fast enough to pre-order.

Re:Remember when

[jwhyche]

I can't remember when I bought my last EA game. I checked my inventory and none of games I bought from Steam are EA. Plenty of indy games out there. I paid 15 bucks for Giana Sisters, Twisted Dreams and played the hell out of it.

cards?

[cascadingstylesheet]

What about those card games where you buy packs of cards, hoping to get some special powerful cards in them?

If loot boxes are gambling, why aren't those card packs?

Re:Wizards of the Coast should worry

[Anonymous Coward]

The difference is that gives you a tangible product. Wizards cannot ban me from playing MTG, nor can they disallow me from using proxies or fake cards, and are not obligated to allow tournament entry (nor are you entitled to it). I am free to sell and trade the cards I acquire, I cannot do this with the majority of lootbox or gacha games and when I can it's often trapped on another market.

In addition, if WOTC goes belly-up tomorrow, I still have my cards, can still play the game, and can even organize (unofficial) tournaments. If Waifu Simulator Gacha 2018 shuts down, all my stuff is gone and I can't get anything back. If EA bans my Origin account, then all my shit is gone for good unless I do serious dicksucking or file a lawsuit. If Blizzard shuts down the WoW servers, they will DMCA any private servers that spring up, even non-profit ones.

That's the difference between the two.

Shut em down.

[Anonymous Coward]

Honestly I hope they shut down all the games that have loot boxes that do anything beyond cosmetic looks. Any company that puts items in to loot boxes that increases power levels over regular game play options needs shut down.